Reagan advances to first state volleyball final; Southwest survives in five sets
Southwest and Winter Park will meet again.
Southwest toppled a resilient Westlake Seminole Ridge boys volleyball team, 3-2, in a Class 3A state semifinal Friday night at Polk State College.
Southwest (25-5) will now square off against defending state champions Winter Park at 7 p.m. Saturday for the FHSAA 3A state title.
“It’s going to be a dogfight,” Southwest coach Joshua Perez said. “I know how they are and everyone just wants to draw blood, and that is what we are here for.”
The matchup will mark the third consecutive season the two teams have faced each other in the state championship game.
“It’s funny because everybody had us out this entire season, too,” Perez said. “They had both of us out. We were in a tournament in Orlando and the chatter was ‘Southwest is over,’ and ‘Winter Park is over.’
“But we understand it’s a long season and it’s a learning curve the entire way. Our team did a good job of learning, and they turned the corner and did everything I expected to see.”
Winter Park advanced after shutting out Winter Garden Horizon 3-0.
Winter Park won the state title last year, knocking off Southwest in five sets. Southwest won the state title in 2023 and Winter Park took home the title in 2022.
Against Seminole Ridge, Southwest won the first two sets 25-16 and 25-16 and appeared to be on its way to a 3-0 sweep. But Seminole Ridge courageously battled back and won the next two sets 22-25 and 16-25 to force a fifth set. But Southwest regrouped at crunch time and put Seminole Ridge away 15-10.
“At the end of the day it really doesn’t matter,” Perez said. “A ball gets tossed up, and that is the beauty of sports, it can fall either way. We weren’t too disciplined and we kind of let some things slip by. We paid the consequences against a team that passes well and is very athletic.”
Southwest was led by Juanmarco Diaz with 22 kills and 19 digs. Kevin Munoz added 15 kills and eight digs while Dereck Ocasio dished out 13 kills with four passes and two digs.
“It is definitely a feel-good moment,” Diaz said. “We are a whole new team. We have a whole bunch of new guys. We have four sophomores on the court with me. I believe this rematch with Winter Park will be a very respectful competitive game.”
REAGAN ADVANCES TO STATE FINAL
Reagan failed to win their district title again, but suddenly no one cares. The Bison didn’t need it to reach the state title game.
Reagan advanced to the Class 2A state finals on Friday after turning back Gulf Breeze, 3-1, in a semifinal.
Reagan will face Lake Howell Saturday at 4 p.m. for the 2A state championship. Lake Howell advanced after beating Riviera Beach Suncoast 3-0.
“I am extremely happy,” Reagan coach Joshua Garavito said. “Last year we had an extremely heartbreaking loss in districts. I couldn’t have asked for a better story than to come over here.
“My school has had trouble the past few years always failing at districts. It’s always been a dream of mine to get the win at districts but this year, unfortunately, we did not get the district title but we did get the regional title, and we’re here.”
Reagan won the first set 25-18 but was nipped 24-26 in the second set before seizing the next two 25-23 and 25-15.
“I would have preferred (to win in) three but I did not want to go five,” Garavito said. “Had we gone five, I am sure we would have gotten it.
“It was just all attitude (during the second-set loss). We were down and not playing our game. Every time they got a point on us, we didn’t huddle like we normally do. It was just over-confidence.”
Reagan was led by William Camacho with 21 kills, 33 passes, three aces and seven digs. Michael Perez and Diego Cobena both recorded 10 kills.
“It’s been pretty hard competition but I am proud of this team because they are playing hard,” Reagan junior libero Santiago Mejia said. “We’ve been training a lot so we deserve it.”
“I feel like the main focus here should be attitude. If you have a great attitude and you are solid with that, you can go anywhere.”